


Another mission

by epithalamium



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cults, Gen, Religious Guilt, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21870868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epithalamium/pseuds/epithalamium
Summary: His heart was pounding in his chest when he pulled the door open and he let out a gasp when he saw an old man with dark tinted glasses. Dio stepped out of the way as the man wheeled his chair inside the room.'We have a lot to talk about,' said Brother.
Relationships: Dio & Brother (Zero Escape)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23
Collections: ZEcret Santa 2019





	Another mission

**Author's Note:**

  * For [double_negative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/double_negative/gifts).



> My ZEcret Santa fic for [double_negative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/double_negative/works?fandom_id=765738). This isn't actually very festive, but I hope you have a happy holiday! :D
> 
> TW for some descriptions of a dead body. Y'all know what happened to Left. ~~Oh no is this too dark for a holiday fic~~

When angels fell, God needed to lift no finger to punish them. All He did was deny them His presence--their existence made to bask in His light in perfect adoration, to wilt like a plant without the sun.

So with the Myrmidons and so with Dio.

For his most recent infraction, Brother ceased daily communications for a whole month and that was when Dio finally understood what Hell felt like.

They were born for Brother, after all, and a world without Brother was a life with no purpose. Dio had disobeyed the rules before; he'd left the compound without permission numerous times, talked to outsiders unrelated to his mission brief, and drank alcohol with them in pubs. He hadn't thought talking to a woman was that bad, and she was the one who started talking to him first, but the time for morning commune found Dio with pounding temples and silence from Brother's end.

Not only Brother, but his brethren were silent as well. No new missions, no invitations to worship together, not a word from the acolytes who brought a tray of food to Dio's room at regular intervals--as if they would catch Dio's bad deeds by association. He might have done the same had he been in their shoes and resentment didn't belong in Free the Soul, but those people didn't know about Hell. They knew nothing.

A month after the silence, long days and hours spent alone with his thoughts and the comfortless tenets of his beliefs, Dio heard knocking on his door and wondered if the Elders had come to tell him about a new level of hell.

Or perhaps they simply meant to kill him; why else would they pay a visit in the middle of the night? Dio hesitated before opening the door and whoever it was remained silent after the initial knock, but he knew the person was still there. And they knew that he knew.

His heart was pounding in his chest when he pulled the door open and he let out a gasp when he saw an old man with dark tinted glasses. Dio stepped out of the way as the man wheeled his chair inside the room.

'We have a lot to talk about,' said Brother.

*

A long time ago--more than a century, in fact--there was a man who loved his brother. But his brother was impulsive and short tempered, and no one was surprised when he was murdered.

Delta hadn't been surprised either. The authorities ruled his brother's death as suicide, but the truth was whispered among those who feared for their own lives. Standing alone in the morgue and staring at the bruised and bloodied corpse of his brother--teeth missing from a mouth that would never smile again, death-clouded eyes that remained open as if in silent accusation--he swore he would bring the world down with him if he had to.

*

Dio had never talked to Brother in person before. The Elders said he was old and nearing death--the man in front of him might be getting on in years, but he seemed spry enough. Logic would dictate this was _not_ Brother, perhaps a stand-in or an impostor, but the man hadn't actually introduced himself as Brother. Dio had simply known, the idea lodged in his brain without him realising.

'But we have already talked about a lot of things,' said Brother. 'Have we not?'

'Not in the past month,' said Dio. He couldn't keep the anger from his voice and he didn't care. 'No.'

'Indeed.' There might have been a trace of a smile on Brother's lips. 'And did you learn anything in that month?'

Dio had been wondering what to do with himself; standing over Brother felt rude but as very few members have ever seen Brother in the flesh there was no protocol on what they were supposed to do in his presence.

'I--'

'You may sit down,' said Brother.

Pulling out his desk chair to face Brother, Dio wondered if the man could read minds.

'How do you think we've been talking to each other all these years?' said Brother, with a real smile this time.

'You know everything about me,' said Dio. He found more shame than comfort in the thought, no matter how Brother was supposed to be accepting of all flaws and impartial in his love.

'I won't say I can read personalities,' said Brother.

'But the All-Knowing--'

'The human flesh is not only a burden but a limitation.' Hearing Brother's voice felt strange after many years of conversing with him mentally. Where Brother's mental voice was detached, his physical voice sounded more expressive and had an urgency Dio felt the need to reciprocate. 'A problem we share, it seems.'

The idea of Brother having flaws was verging on heresy and Dio wondered once more if he was dealing with an impostor.

'Faith spreads like an idea.' Brother shook his head. 'Like stories. They must change in the telling to better fit the audience. An omnipotent and omniscient god gives people comfort, and that's why such a god exists.'

'You're not fooling me,' said Dio. 'I won't be swayed from the faith.'

Brother didn't say anything and Dio was having a hard time reading his expression--he didn't even know where the old man was looking because of his glasses. There was perhaps a downward tilt in the line of Brother's mouth, but Dio couldn't be sure.

Dio rested his forehead on one hand, letting his hair obscure his face. 'I didn't mean to do any of that.'

'And what was it you meant?' Had Brother sounded angry, much like the Elders whenever Dio broke the rules, Dio would have laughed and made excuses. But Brother was patient and seemed truly interested in what Dio had to say for himself.

'Once we have achieved our goals I wouldn't make those stupid mistakes any more,' said Dio.

'Is that what you want?'

Dio sat up straight and looked at Brother in the eye--or at least what would have been his eyes had they not been obscured. 'I never wanted to disappoint you.'

There were many things Brother could say that would hurt and Dio braced himself against sharp words, but the old man only nodded.

'You were all made in the likeness of my brother, you know that,' he said. 'In homogeneity I thought you would find harmony, but it appears you are perfect in your imperfection.'

'What do you--'

Brother turned away from Dio, facing the side of Dio's room where a window would have been had it not been bricked up to prevent him from sneaking out. 'You're too similar to Left.'

*

Righteous anger was a powerful drug and caught in its grip, Delta had a hard time trusting other humans. After all, they were the ones who killed Left, who obscured the truth about his death, and who did nothing to bring the case to justice. The world was already a hostile place, but with the anger came hatred and little room for sympathy.

He stood at a distance because that's where society had pushed him, and he watched humans live their lives with something close to scorn.

Decades later, after many discarded lives and new bodies, Delta learned he could wrap Left's memory in living flesh and wondered about the possibilities. Where would his microcosm of a hostile world take a life that ended too early?

Could he create what could have been?

*

'There is something I need you to do,' said Brother.

This was familiar territory. As a Myrmidon, Dio had a lot of experience receiving mission briefs from the Elders, but he'd never heard of Brother giving them directly to operatives. He stood up and bowed, hoping Brother wouldn't notice his shaking hands. 'I listen and I am yours to command.'

'Jumal will brief you on the details later,' said Brother, referring to one of the Elders. 'But I want you to understand how important this mission is to the cause.'

'Yes, Brother.' The teachings of Free the Soul placed the human personality in the brain, but Dio wasn't sure about that. He didn't think the cold wash of sadness that made it hard for him to breathe was something he felt in his brain.

'Only you can do it.' Brother reached out and placed a hand on Dio's still bent head.

Dio gasped when he realised the sadness was coming from Brother. The weight of it almost bringing Dio to his knees and he had a hard time focusing on Brother as he spoke of a metal compound in the moon, the plans Dio needed to disrupt.

In the back of Dio's mind, he kept hearing whispers of apology in Brother's voice.

*

Be it a human clone or a robot child, the subject needed to face various and increasing levels of adversity or the experimental study would be incomplete; Delta knew this. The chances of the subject surviving this mission was low and the thought had made him pause before giving the subject his order, the once-familiar taste of sorrow settling at the tip of his tongue.

Perhaps death was an inevitability for Left after all.


End file.
